42. Genius (Genius) (2)
42. Genius (Genius) (2)
—12 years earlier.
Ah, how fleeting life is.
Eight years old.
That was what Bel thought when she first picked up a sword.
Of course, by the time she was twenty, Bel was aware that the thought was very much the thought of a cheeky little brat.
'Just why does he swing it around so pointlessly, Haven oppa.'
The eight-year-old Bel thought that as she watched a young boy's training from behind a rock.
A twelve-year-old young boy was sweating profusely.
It was her eldest brother named Haven.
'Haven oppa said he started learning the sword when he was five.'
Why.
So why was his Sword Path like that?
That wasn't how you were supposed to swing it.
Sword Path (劍路).
Bel could see it.
How to swing it when you held a sword, how to thrust it.
The Sword Path from when she had just picked up and swung a sword for the very first time.
She could instinctively be certain that her own Sword Path was more extraordinary than the five consecutive strikes Haven had just executed.
Countless seasons flowed by.
But in the world of the White Night, there was only winter.
White, and yet more white. Only winter's time passed.
Bel had no choice but to perceive the flow of the four seasons solely through the changes of the birds gliding across the sky.
So, ever since she was young, Bel's hobby was lying on the ground and staring blankly at the sky.
Luke, Bel's father and the patriarch of the White Night Clan, knew nothing about Bel until the year she turned sixteen.
Perhaps because in the entire history of the White Night Clan, genius had never once manifested in a girl child, Luke didn't pay any attention to Bel or his other daughters.
Bel didn't want to step forward and reveal her genius to Luke. She didn't want to become the person who carried the weight of the entire clan's expectations.
That was why Bel felt a little sorry for Haven.
Because Haven was the one meant to be the next patriarch, the direct firstborn son who had no choice but to train relentlessly.
Bel's second hobby was secretly hiding and watching Haven train.
From the age of eight when she first held a sword, continuously, she hid and watched Haven's training. Haven's Sword Path.
Shwaaeak—
A sharp sound resonated through the air.
At twenty years old, Haven kept swinging his sword even when the back of his hand swelled and burst. Even when his grip tore open.
Stubbornly and tenaciously.
'His Sword Path was wrong again.'
Haven swung his sword hundreds of times. And among all those Sword Paths, there were only one or two that satisfied Bel.
It was in the winter of that year when her father and Haven learned of Bel's talent.
A giant orc carrying a massive axe appeared along the ridge of the White Night.
And behind that giant orc was a legion of thirty-four orcs.
Predatory battle aura flowed from the entire bodies of the orcs that had invaded the Land of White Night.
King of the Orcs.
An Orc Lord.
It was only natural that a legion led by a race's king would be composed solely of that race's elite.
A distinct Aura Blade flowed from the axe the Orc Lord held.
It looked like a red flame.
Haven did not show fear even when faced with the Orc Lord's legion that commanded an entire race.
He, too, was of the great White Night Clan.
Though a cursed clan never able to leave this White Night Castle for life, they were also the clan of a hero who had sacrificed himself to save the world.
Before the orcs kindling their red battle aura, Haven kindled the pure white flame unique to the White Night Clan.
The sword at his waist was drawn.
A crescent-moon Sword Path.
Snow scattering like fragments as it clashed with the Sword Path. Fragments and crystals of snow spreading wide through the atmosphere.
And two orcs, their upper bodies tilting along a diagonal line.
The cleaved bodies of the orcs dropped cleanly onto the white snowfield. Red blood embroidered thickly upon it.
But, not enough.
Bel thought so.
It was frustrating.
That he could only unfold his Sword Path like that.
His fundamental approach was wrong. That was what she thought.
'He doesn't need to approach it with the mindset of striking down every single enemy.'
Haven, who was trying to land an attack on each and every visible orc, felt so extremely frustrating to her.
'If he just cuts the space itself, that would be enough.'
Then all the monsters within that interval would die.
Bel was someone who had, since the year before, annihilated monsters that invaded at night on numerous occasions without her clan's knowledge.
Bel, who had been crouching on a massive tree branch and quietly observing the situation, threw her body downward.
Kung—
A thick cloud of snow dust billowed up.
The gazes of over 20 White Night Clan warriors, including Luke and Haven, all gathered on Bel.
"...Bel?"
The warriors of the White Night Clan couldn't help but be shocked when the sixteen-year-old girl suddenly dropped from the tree.
They had occasionally seen Bel running around and playing, but they had never, not even once, seen her hold a sword.
"Wha, what are you doing here! Bel! Quickly return to the safe zone...!"
The middle-aged warrior who was shouting like that fell silent, his mouth hanging open blankly.
Because upon the sword Bel held, a pure white Sword Aura (劍氣), far too radiant, was embroidering the atmosphere.
It was a radiant Sword Aura that couldn't even be compared to the one Haven had just unfolded from his hand.
"Oppa."
Bel spoke lowly and stood beside Haven.
"If you aim for each opponent one by one and extend your sword, it's way too inefficient in a one-against-many situation like this."
Bel stomped down on the snowy ground with her right foot.
"You have to cut the space."
Bel swung her sword.
Chwaaaaaak!
A white light revealed its luminous presence even within the pure white of the White Night.
Sseogeogeok!!
A gruesome sound of tearing flesh spread out messily. The arms, upper bodies, and heads of the orcs soared into the air.
Seven.
In a single strike, the life flames of seven orcs were extinguished.
Red blood scattered across the pure white snowfield.
"Like this."
Bel turned her head back to look at Haven, who stood blankly behind her.
Haven's eyes were wide open, unable to even think about opening his mouth.
And it was the same for Luke beside him.
He had only thought she was a child who liked contemplating alone. But he could tell from that single strike she just demonstrated. It was overwhelming talent.
Luke's parched lips slowly opened.
"...Just when did you start holding a sword?"
"Eight years old."
8 years.
Luke gulped down dry saliva.
A genius who had reached the Advanced Expert-level in merely 8 years of holding a sword stood before his eyes.
"Then, why are you revealing your strength only now?"
"I thought I should gradually start lending my strength to Father's side in the subjugation of the Giant God Ades. And...."
Bel's gaze, trailing off the end of her sentence, stopped on the young man standing at the very back of the 20 warriors.
There was Seyan, a warrior who had turned 19 that year.
From the moment he faced the orc legion, his entire body had been trembling violently.
A White Night warrior wouldn't shiver from the cold, so it was clearly due to fear.
"My family was trembling in fear. That's why."
Bel took another step forward.
Bel's weapon had, before she knew it, changed to a thin sword suited for thrusting.
White light burst out once more.
A thrust.
A single ray of light shot forth as if to push the world away.
Kung-
Space distorted.
Kuuung-
In an instant, six orcs were compressed as if skewered by a spit and slammed far away.
The white flash advanced without stopping.
Jjeoeoeong!!
The Orc Lord blocked the thrust of the thin sword with the broad face of his massive axe.
But not even a moment's hesitation seeped into Bel's movements.
Her feet kept moving.
Kwajik—!
The axe came slamming down.
And where that axe, imbued with flame-like Aura, struck, there was only Bel's afterimage.
Bel dug in to the Orc Lord's right side.
Shuik!
In an instant, Bel pulled her sword-holding right hand sharply backward.
Then she stepped forward and extended her arm.
Jjeojeojeojeong!
Four clusters of light sharply struck the Orc Lord's flank directly.
Keuwoeoeoeoeok!!
The king's scream rang out.
Buuuuung!
The enraged king awakened the muscles of his entire body and swung both arms.
The massive axe sliced through the atmosphere like a flash of lightning. But Bel's figure was again only an afterimage. Bel had moved from right to left before anyone knew it.
Bel swung her thin sword again.
A white haze flowed fiercely over the thin sword and Bel's entire body.
'Quickly.'
Bel extended her arm.
Jjeojeojeojeojeong!
Eight sounds of splitting air.
And eight slashes bloomed in the empty air.
A frost Sword Aura reminiscent of a flower lingered in the air for a long while before disappearing.
The form of the Sword Aura was a flower, but the result that flower summoned was infinitely sharp.
The body of the Orc Lord, with eight holes pierced through its entire body, tilted toward the ground.
Kuuung!!
Bel's movements did not stop.
Only after killing all of the remaining twenty-plus orcs did Bel finally turn her body toward the White Night Clan members who were staring at her intently.
Upon the pure white snow.
A young girl with the corpses of countless orcs behind her.
To Luke, his own daughter Bel felt distinctly alien.
"...That technique, it's <Frost Flower>, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Who taught it to you?"
At Luke's question, Bel slowly shook her head.
"No one taught me."
Bel's gaze turned to Haven.
"I secretly watched Father teach Haven oppa and acquired it."
Luke's brow furrowed.
"...Acquired?"
It was because everything Bel was saying was extraordinary.
"You mean you saw it with your eyes. And through that alone, you enlightened it?"
"Yes."
The furrow in Luke's brow deepened.
But he couldn't bring himself to yell that she was arrogant.
'She transformed Frost Flower more perfectly.'
A genius.
A genius surpassing even himself at that.
A genius who merely witnessed martial arts with her eyes, saw through everything about that art, and created a technique more perfect than the original.
Bel leaned her pretty face in toward Luke, who was staring at her blankly.
"I won't be the patriarch."
Bel stared at Haven again.
"The clan head. The position of patriarch is Haven oppa's role."
Bel approached Haven.
"...Bel."
Haven called out the name of his youngest sister he used to play with often when they were young, in a daze.
"Yeah, oppa."
"...Given that skill you just showed, wouldn't it be right for you to be the patriarch?"
"No, oppa."
Bel slowly shook her head.
"I'll be your sword. So you be the patriarch, oppa."
Bel swung her sword once on the ground to shake off the orcs' blood and flesh.
"I'll join the Ades subjugation starting tomorrow."
No one could dismiss Bel as a mere sixteen-year-old kid.
Because anyone could see she had achieved the realm of Advanced Expert-level.
Luke swallowed dryly.
'It'll be soon.'
Reaching the Master's realm would probably be soon too.
With that level of talent.
Bel walked into the White Night Castle alone.
Bel was just slightly worried.
Whether Haven might fall into despair.
Whether he might put down his sword.
And it took only a single day to realize that this was a very pointless worry.
Shwaeak—
Buwoong—
Haven began swinging his sword again.
Bel stared blankly at the sight. At the sight of a swordsman who did not despair in the face of talent.
Bel stood beside Haven.
And she began to swing her sword alongside him.
The thing called effort.
The thing called training.
She was only just beginning to realize that sensation.
Bel and Haven stood side by side and swung their swords.
Bel came to appreciate the reverence of the thing called effort. She could cast away her arrogant thought that Haven's actions were futile.
The siblings created countless Sword Paths of the White Night.
The four seasons passed.
It was three cycles of the four seasons.
Even when the mighty Bel and Luke joined forces, they couldn't break through the Giant King's regeneration.
It was despairing. Bel even had thoughts that perhaps, really. She might end up never able to leave this cage of the White Night for her entire life.
But thanks to Haven, who did not crumble even from a despair greater than this, she could lessen that sense of helplessness.
Winter came again.
A genius who had learned the meaning of effort achieved growth very quickly.
"...Oh, it worked."
A pure white, radiant Sword Aura bloomed. It was different from any Sword Aura she had seen before, a white Sword Aura that was translucent like a jade marble.
Proof of a Sword Master, the Aura Blade.
A pure white star bloomed on the sword.
"Congratulations."
Haven smiled and congratulated Bel on her achievement.
It was the year Bel turned nineteen.
***
The twenty-year-old Bel felt Yuma's gaze.
And she also felt the gaze of the mage behind Yuma, Cloné. Precisely, she felt an unidentified Resonance reverberating in her head.
'What is it?'
As she narrowed her brow, the unidentified wave that had been ringing in her head subsided a moment later.
What was important right now wasn't that Resonance sound she had just heard.
Confronting King Ades of the Giant God Tribe, who was below the cliff, was the most important thing.
Kwang!
Bel released a white energy from her entire body and landed in front of the Giant God Ades.
"Bel."
Luke's stern voice was heard.
"What are you doing? Are you not coming?"
Bel stepped forward.
She dismissed her questions about Yuma and Cloné in an instant.
What was important right now. Was not those people, but dealing with King Ades of the Giant God Tribe right before her eyes.
The white light extending from Bel's waist and the white light extending from Luke's hand simultaneously shot across the ground toward Ades.